Alice Cooper came to Cincinnati, Ohio’s Taft Theater for a fun night of rock & roll, & mayhem. Opening up the show was UK rockers Livan. I had not heard anything about an opening act for Alice Cooper, so I was somewhat surprised that there was an opening band.

Livan describes themselves as Industrial, Pop, Punk. I would describe them as Alternative, Punk with some Classic Rock thrown in for good measure. I wasn’t familiar with the band’s music, but they put on a pretty good show. Lead singer, Livan came out in face paint, and a leather skirt, while the guitar player graced a top hat. Their performance was somewhat theatrical in nature, and was a good fit as an opener for Alice Cooper. I was impressed by their performance, and hope I get to see this band again. If you visit Livan’s website, you can get a free download of their song “Undead”, and some free wallpapers too.

Alice Cooper took the stage around 8:30 P.M. and it was clear the band was going to rock our faces off. Alice’s band was sporting a few changes since the last time I saw them. His current band line up has Orianthi, Tommy Henricksen & Steve Hunter on guitar, Chuck Garric on bass, and Glen Sobel (Ex-Beautiful Creatures) on drums. This band was super tight and Alice Cooper’s songs have never sounded better. This was my first time seeing many of his new members play live, and I thought everyone was great. I loved getting to see Orianthi play. There are not enough women that rock out like this. She is an extremely talented guitarist who fits this band perfectly.

Alice’s show included many of the normal theatrics including the guillotine, swords, snakes, and my new favorite, the 10 foot “FrankenAlice” which he brought to life during the song “Feed My Frankenstein”, and of course the flag waving in the show closer “Elected”.

The only way this show could have been better is if more songs were in the set. I love Welcome 2 My Nightmare, and one song from that CD is not enough in my opinion. I would love to hear “Vengeance is Mine”, “Chop, Chop, Chop” and “Bye Bye Baby” and probably another ten or twenty songs that is not in the Alice Cooper set, but I will take what I can get.

Alice Cooper always delivers a great live performance. He is the ultimate performer, and the show on this evening was great as always. I can’t wait to see them play again!